caramba421:I absolutely love all this secession business. If every single Red State secedes, the remaining US will still have the world's largest economy, still almost doubling China's. The newly-created Confederate States of Bumfarkistan will end up in 4th place behind China and Japan, but ahead of Germany. Good luck with that one, guys.

Not really though. The problem is that a huge part of the South's economy is dependent on defense spending. It's that southern non-union labor that builds our war machine, but it's the blue state economies that pay for it all. If there is a secession, the blue state coalition will move all defense manufacturing out of the south -- possibly revitalizing Detroit and the the steel belt. Meanwhile, the Confederacy will have to engage in massive deficit spending in order to maintain a military.

As much as I'd love the South to just go the fark away, I can't actually support succession. The Confederacy would rapidly turn into our own version of Pakistan. A corrupt, belligerent state with a third world economy that can only maintain order by promulgating hate of its more liberal, more powerful, more successful neighbor - hate which translate into a steady stream of terrorist acts.

PluckYew:Maybe it's been said already, I haven't been reading all the secession threads; the people who sign these petitions should be identified publicly so we KNOW WHO THEY ARE.

So says a person posting on Fark using a pseudonym. *slow sarcastic clap*

What you're advocating is retaliation against people seeking redress. (Idiotic as it is in this instance.) But let's take a more immediate example: someone signing a petition to ban a discriminatory workplace practice. Openly signing that petition means that person's employer can retaliate against that person for seeking redress. (Walmart's hostile relationship with their employees comes immediately to mind. Those folks are pretty much up shiat's creek without tangible help.)

We've already seen that certain employers are quite willing to discriminate against people based on their vote (or who their employer thinks they voted for.)

My high school math teacher married his guy a while back (and good for him). He was among the first in Canada to do so when our Supreme Court ruled that the government couldn't stop folks from doing so. But because he was a teacher, the very fact that he had a guy at all was a closely guarded secret until he retired, for what should be obvious reasons. I'm bi. I'm a teacher. I don't (and won't) post publicly on this topic using my real name. Nor could I (or others like me) participate in seeking redress without the threat of misguided retaliation.

Kids who've experienced abuse (or are at risk of abuse) often need to seek redress (by various means) while carefully guarding their identities from even their parents.

So yeah, it's true that jackasses can abuse anonymity, but exposing everybody can have some seriously chilling and detrimental effects.

StopLurkListen:Big Man On Campus: Actually, this guy has the best point ever made against the Democrats. They're supposed to be social liberals helping to defend and expand our social freedoms. However, outside of Abortion, they just don't give a flying fark. I mean, the U.S. is the only developed nation that basically forbids any women walking around topless, anywhere, and forget about clothing-optional beaches (A common thing in Europe and elsewhere). This is a very basic encroachment of protestant morals onto American freedom, but the Democrats don't care.

There's no Federal law against nudity, and in general nudity on Federal lands (beaches, for instance) results in a request from the park ranger to move to a less conspicuous place, not an arrest.

Also, I'm in San Francisco, and there are nude people in public often. San Francisco is very tolerant of public nudity, probably because of it's Republican Freedom Values.

It's not nudity that's the problem it's modesty because quite frankly, some of you should never be nude in public. Ever.

bmihura:KrispyKritter: i question the mind of one who considers breasts to be obscene. everything of the body is 100% natural. breasts aren't obscene, some peoples minds are obscene. they should have to stand up and explain their minds. i suspect they are in need of psychological counseling. they are deeply damaged people who deserve our help and sympathy.

Oh really? Then why is it against the law in every state to be nude in public? (barring nudist resorts, strip clubs, etc.)

Because our country was founded by the most uptight people ever on the face of the Earth, the Puritans. Remember, they fled England because it was way too liberal...

HeartBurnKid:I don't know about that. Sure, "because Obama" is a stupid farking reason for secession, but at least it's an issue secession would actually solve. No matter if Alabama's in the USA, the CSA, or the UCAS, the city council are still going to be the same people.

I absolutely love all this secession business. If every single Red State secedes, the remaining US will still have the world's largest economy, still almost doubling China's. The newly-created Confederate States of Bumfarkistan will end up in 4th place behind China and Japan, but ahead of Germany. Good luck with that one, guys.

I don't know about that. Sure, "because Obama" is a stupid farking reason for secession, but at least it's an issue secession would actually solve. No matter if Alabama's in the USA, the CSA, or the UCAS, the city council are still going to be the same people.